Meng Po () is the goddess of forgetfulness in
Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions.
Much of t ...
, who serves
Meng Po Soup
Meng may refer to:
* Meng (surname) (孟), a Chinese surname
* Master of Engineering (MEng or M.Eng.), an academic or professional master's degree in the field of engineering
* , "M with hook", letter used in the International Phonetic Alphabet
* ...
on the Bridge of Forgetfulness or
Naihe Bridge
Naihe (died 1831) was the chief orator and councilor during the founding of the Kingdom of Hawaii. A champion athlete in his youth, he negotiated for peace at several critical times and helped preserve the remains of several ancient leaders.
Ea ...
(). This soup wipes the memory of the person so they can reincarnate into the next life without the burdens of the previous life. She awaits the dead souls at the entrance of the 9th round Fengdu ().
Legends
According to Chinese mythology, there exist several realms beneath the Earth. Meng Po serves in
Diyu
Diyu () is the realm of the dead or "hell" in Chinese mythology. It is loosely based on a combination of the Buddhist concept of Naraka, traditional Chinese beliefs about the afterlife, and a variety of popular expansions and reinterpretations o ...
, the Chinese realm of the dead, in the 10th court. It is her task to ensure that souls who are ready to be reincarnated do not remember their previous life or their time in hell.
To this end she collects herbs from various earthly ponds and streams to make her Five Flavored Tea of Forgetfulness (). This is given to each soul to drink before they leave Diyu. The brew induces instant and permanent
amnesia
Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use ...
, and all memory of other lives is lost.
Having been purged of all previous sins and knowledge, the dead spirit is sent to be reborn in a new earthly incarnation according to the karma accrued over their previous lifetimes, and the cycle begins again. In Chinese tradition, there are legends of miracle births, where a newborn is able to speak because the soul of the baby didn't drink the Five Flavored Tea of Forgetfulness. Occasionally people are able to avoid drinking the brew, resulting in
past life memories surfacing in children.
Image of Goddess Meng Po
In some variations of the myth, the true identity of Meng Po is that of Lady Meng Jiang
Lady Meng Jiang or Meng Jiang Nü () is a Chinese tale with many variations. Later versions are set in the Qin dynasty, when Lady Meng Jiang's husband was pressed into service by imperial officials and sent as corvee labor to build the Great Wa ...
. After the death of her husband, Meng Jiang found herself unable to reincarnate due to her grief. In order to relieve the pain of life of other spirits, Lady Meng took the initiative to create a bowl of soup that would allow spirits to forget the suffering of their material life.
In popular culture
* The character increased in popularity in 2018 with the romance film The Ferry Man Manjusaka.
* Meng-p'o Macula, one of the equatorial dark regions on Pluto
Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...
, is named after Meng Po.
* In the 2022 video game Dislyte, the character Jiang Man is blessed with Meng Po’s abilities.
See also
* Yanluo Wang
In Chinese mythology and religion, King Yan () is the god of death and the ruler of Diyu, overseeing the "Ten Kings of Hell" in its capital of Youdu. He is also known as King Yanluo (), a transcription of the Sanskrit for "King Yama" (/, ). K ...
(閻羅王)
* Cheng Huang Gong (城隍公)
* Zhong Kui
Zhong Kui (; ko, 종규, Jonggyu; ja, 鍾馗, Shōki; vi, Chung Quỳ) is a deity in Chinese mythology, traditionally regarded as a vanquisher of ghosts and evil beings. He is depicted as a large man with a big black beard, bulging eyes, and ...
(鍾馗)
* Heibai Wuchang
The Heibai Wuchang, or Hak Bak Mo Seong, literally "Black and White Impermanence", are two Deities in Chinese folk religion in charge of escorting the spirits of the dead to the underworld. As their names suggest, they are dressed in black an ...
(黑白無常)
* Youdu
Youdu () in Chinese mythology is the capital of Hell, or Diyu. Among the various other geographic features believed of Diyu, the capital city has been thought to be named Youdu. It is generally conceived as being similar to a typical Chinese capit ...
(幽都)
* Ox-Head and Horse-Face
Ox-Head () and Horse-Face () are two guardians or types of guardians of the underworld in Chinese mythology. As indicated by their names, both have the bodies of men, but Ox-Head has the head of an ox while Horse-Face has the face of a horse. Th ...
* Chinese folk religion
Chinese folk religion, also known as Chinese popular religion comprehends a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. Vivienne Wee described it as "an empty bowl, which can variously be filled ...
* List of supernatural beings in Chinese folklore
The following is a list of supernatural beings in Chinese folklore and fiction originating from traditional folk culture and contemporary literature such as Pu Songling's ''Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio''. This list contains only common s ...
* Lethe
In Greek mythology, Lethe (; Ancient Greek: ''Lḗthē''; , ), also referred to as Lemosyne, was one of the five rivers of the underworld of Hades. Also known as the ''Ameles potamos'' (river of unmindfulness), the Lethe flowed around the cav ...
References
External links
Godchecker entry on Meng Po
Chinese goddesses
Death goddesses
Memory in culture
Reincarnation
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